If you're a property owner, you're most likely familiar with the balancing act of your professional responsibilities, from rent collection to tenant screening, maintenance, and tax filing. It goes without saying that efficient financial management is the cornerstone of successful property management. Without the right financial tools, including basic bookkeeping tools like invoices and industry-specific reports, tracking income, expenses, and financial reporting can quickly become overwhelming.
While QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise and Quickbooks Online are often the first tools property managers think to utilize, they come at a cost. Before pulling the trigger on one of these programs, there are other financial management software options to consider. In this article, we'll analyze the different QuickBooks pricing tiers, compare them with Azibo’s offerings, and determine their value and cost-effectiveness for landlords, investors, and property managers.
By exploring these options, you can equip yourself with the knowledge to make informed decisions on accounting software that enhance your financial operations and overall business efficiency.
Overview of QuickBooks Online
QuickBooks Online is a cloud-based accounting software developed by Intuit. It's designed to help businesses manage their finances efficiently by offering tools for invoicing, expense tracking, payroll, and tax filing.
Its popularity stems from its user-friendly interface, scalability, and integration capabilities, making it a preferred choice for small to mid-sized businesses. QuickBooks Online pricing includes various plans tailored to different business needs, providing options that range from basic to advanced features.
Services offered by QuickBooks Online
- Invoicing: Create and send professional invoices, track payments, and set up recurring invoices.
- Expense tracking: Record and categorize expenses, attach receipts, and track mileage.
- Payroll: Process payroll, manage employee benefits, and comply with tax regulations.
- Tax filing: Prepare and file taxes, generate financial reports, and manage tax deductions.
- Bank reconciliation: Connect to bank accounts and credit cards for automatic updates and reconciliation.
- Time tracking: Track billable hours and manage project timesheets.
- Bill management: Included in the Essentials plan, allowing users to add employee time to invoices.
Why property managers consider QuickBooks Online
Property managers have unique financial needs that QuickBooks Online can address, though it might not be the most specialized tool available. Managing multiple properties involves tracking rent payments and automating invoicing, which QuickBooks Online handles efficiently.
Expense management is essential, as property owners must accurately categorize and monitor maintenance costs and other expenditures. QuickBooks Online facilitates detailed financial reporting, including accounts payable, for tax preparation and compliance, providing insights into your rental business's profitability. Its scalability allows the software to grow with expanding property portfolios, and integration with other property management tools enhances overall efficiency and productivity.
However, specialized software such as Azibo offers a more tailored solution for property managers — more on that below.
QuickBooks Online Pricing Tiers
QuickBooks Online Simple Start
Features: QuickBooks Online Simple Start is designed for individual property managers who need to manage income and expenses efficiently. This plan allows you to create and send invoices to tenants, track sales and sales tax related to rental income, capture and organize receipts for property-related expenses, and maximize tax deductions.
It’s a comprehensive tool for those managing a smaller number of properties. However, the Simple Start plan does not include the ability to pay bills or to add additional users.
Cost: The cost for QuickBooks Online Simple Start is approximately $30 per month.
QuickBooks Online Essentials
Features: QuickBooks Online Essentials suits property managers who need to handle more complex financial tasks. It includes all the features of Simple Start, plus additional capabilities such as managing bills and tracking payments for property maintenance and repairs.
This plan supports up to three users, ideal for a small team, and includes time tracking, which can be useful for managing contractors and maintenance staff. Additionally, it offers payroll setup, automating payroll tasks, tax reporting, and benefits management to ensure compliance with HR laws and access to payroll and HR best practices.
Cost: QuickBooks Online Essentials costs around $60 per month.
QuickBooks Online Plus
Features: QuickBooks Online Plus is aimed at property managers with larger portfolios or more complex needs. It includes all the features of Essentials, along with tools to track project profitability, manage maintenance supplies and rental property furnishings inventory, track income and expenses by property or unit, and job costs.
This plan supports up to five users and offers advanced budgeting features, making it an attractive option for efficiently managing multiple properties.
Cost: QuickBooks Online Plus costs approximately $90 per month.
QuickBooks Online Advanced
Features: QuickBooks Online Advanced is the most comprehensive plan for property managers needing advanced financial tools. It includes all the features of Plus, with added benefits such as business analytics and insights, managing employee expenses, batch invoices and expenses for efficiency, customizable access by role to protect sensitive information, and the ability to create custom reports and dashboards.
This plan also offers a dedicated account manager for personalized customer support, making it ideal for large property management operations.
Cost: QuickBooks Online Advanced costs around $200 per month.
Additional costs and upgrades
When considering QuickBooks Online for property management, it’s important to be aware of potential additional costs and upgrades that may be required to fully utilize the software’s capabilities.
Additionally, having access to expert product support is important for maximizing the benefits of QuickBooks Online.
The cost of upgrading QuickBooks plans
Property managers may need to upgrade their QuickBooks Online plan as they grow their portfolios or demand more advanced features. The incremental cost of moving from one plan to another can be significant.
For instance, upgrading from the Simple Start plan ($30 per month) to Essentials ($60 per month) doubles the monthly cost. Similarly, moving from Essentials to Plus ($90 per month) or Plus to Advanced ($200 per month) further increases expenses.
Each upgrade offers additional functionalities such as increased user access, enhanced reporting, and advanced financial tools, which can be essential for managing larger or more complex property portfolios.
Additional costs
- Payment processing fees: Property managers who use QuickBooks Online to process tenant payments may incur additional fees. QuickBooks Payments charges transaction fees for credit card payments (2.99%) and ACH transfers (1% of the transferred amount). These fees can add up, especially if you're processing numerous monthly transactions. For example, if your tenant pays you $1500 in rent via ACH that would be $15 in fees per tenant per month.
- Additional users: Each plan includes a set number of users. For instance, the Simple Start plan only permits one user, Essentials includes three, Plus includes five, and Advanced includes 25. Adding more users beyond the included number incurs additional costs.
- Third-party app integrations: While QuickBooks Online integrates with numerous third-party applications, some of these integrations may incur additional subscription fees. Property managers might need apps for specialized tasks such as tenant screening, maintenance management, or advanced reporting, which can lead to extra costs.
- Training and support: QuickBooks Online offers various levels of customer support, and premium support options might come at an additional cost. Property managers new to the platform might also consider investing in training sessions or consulting services to get up to speed, which can add to the overall expense. Additionally, the customer support center provides 24/7 premium support, expert product support, and troubleshooting assistance to help businesses stay compliant and learn best practices.
These additional costs and potential upgrades should be factored into the overall budget when considering QuickBooks Online. While the software offers robust accounting and financial management tools, specialized property management software like Azibo might provide more targeted features without as many incremental costs.
Comparing QuickBooks Online with Azibo
Azibo's services
Azibo is designed specifically for property managers, offering a suite of financial tools tailored to their unique needs. Key services include automated rent collection, tenant screening, lease management, and expense tracking.
Azibo also provides real estate-specific accounting features such as per-property reporting, a customizable chart of accounts, and specialized financial statements. Additionally, Azibo integrates seamlessly with bank accounts, simplifying payments and transactions, which helps streamline the financial management of rental properties.
Value comparison
QuickBooks Online is a powerful general accounting tool, but it may not cater specifically to the needs of property managers. Azibo offers specialized solutions designed out-of-the-box for real estate management, eliminating the need for complex setups or multiple integrations.
Additionally, Azibo emphasizes the importance of profit-loss reports in financial tracking and reporting, which is crucial for managing business finances effectively.
1. Reporting on a property basis: Azibo generates reports by property, portfolio of properties, or in aggregate, making it easy for real estate investors to get detailed insights. QuickBooks, however, is designed to report on one operating entity holistically, making property-specific reporting complex and costly unless using their highest-tier plans.
2. Real estate-specific chart of accounts: Azibo comes with a real estate-specific chart of accounts created in collaboration with leading real estate CPAs, ready to use out-of-the-box. QuickBooks requires users to set up their own chart of accounts and ensure it enables reporting by property, which can be cumbersome.
3. Real estate-specific reports: Azibo generates specialized reports, such as the schedule of CapEx and P&L statements, calculating net operating income specifically for real estate. QuickBooks’s reports, on the other hand, are generic and do not include real estate-specific forms.
4. Tax preparation for real estate: Azibo simplifies tax prep by generating Schedule E forms and allowing easy inclusion or exclusion of specific transactions. QuickBooks lacks real estate-specific tax prep features, making tax filing more challenging for property managers.
5. Free automated rent collection: Azibo offers automated rent collection without ACH transaction fees for owners or tenants. In contrast, QuickBooks charges property owners/managers 1% on ACH payments and 2.99% on card transactions.
6. CPA Collaboration: Azibo allows sharing access with an accountant for $8.25/month, while QuickBooks supports CPA sharing but often at higher plan costs.
7. Additional integrated features: Azibo offers fully integrated features like applications, tenant screening, leases, eSign, document management, maintenance tracking, and banking built for real estate owners, which QuickBooks does not provide.
8. Affordable cost: Azibo Accounting is completely free for property owners, with accountant sharing costing only $8.25/month. In contrast, QuickBooks’s plans, which best suit real estate management, start at $90/month.
Ultimately, although QuickBooks offers extensive general accounting features, Azibo’s specialized tools for property management provide a more streamlined and cost-effective solution, eliminating the need for multiple integrations and costly software.
Should you get a Quickbooks Online subscription or choose Azibo?
From our detailed comparison, it’s clear that both QuickBooks Online and Azibo have their strengths, but they cater to different needs. QuickBooks Online is a robust general accounting tool with multiple pricing tiers offering various levels of functionality, including invoicing, expense tracking, payroll, and tax filing. However, its pricing can be steep.
Additionally, while QuickBooks Online can handle property management tasks, it lacks specific features tailored to real estate, requiring property managers to set up their own charts of accounts and reporting structures.
On the other hand, Azibo is designed specifically for property management, offering essential services like automated rent collection, tenant screening, lease management, and expense tracking for free. It provides real estate-specific features out-of-the-box, including specialized reports, tax forms, and a customizable chart of accounts.
Azibo also offers integrated features like document management, maintenance tracking, and banking services tailored for real estate, eliminating the need for multiple third-party integrations.
The final verdict: Is QuickBooks worth it for property managers?
QuickBooks Online is a valuable tool for general accounting needs, offering comprehensive financial management features that can benefit property managers. However, its lack of real estate-specific features and the potential for high costs, especially with necessary add-ons and upgrades, make it less ideal for property management than specialized software.
Azibo, designed specifically for property management, offers a more tailored solution without the steep costs associated with QuickBooks Online. Its specialized features, combined with the fact that many of its core services are free, make it a highly cost-effective and efficient choice for property managers.
Evaluate your own needs and the specific requirements of your property management operations. If you’re looking for a comprehensive, cost-effective solution tailored to real estate, consider exploring Azibo’s services.
By choosing a platform designed specifically for property management, you can streamline your financial operations, reduce costs, and enhance overall business efficiency.
Written by
Gemma Smith
Download the essential monthly financial checklist
Download the essential monthly financial checklist
Other related articles
Learn more about Azibo
Whether you’re a property owner, renter, property manager, or real estate agent, gain valuable insights, advice, and updates by joining our newsletter.